This invention relates generally to devices for protecting an electrical component, and more particularly to a protection device for a circuit board connected to an electrochemical cell or battery.
Protection devices are known for protecting an electrical component, such as a fuse and diode assembly, mounted on an electrochemical cell. According to the present invention, a protection device housing a circuit board mounted on an end of the cell is provided with a cylindrical spacer ring. The spacer ring surrounds and captures the protective device so that a standard shrink-wrap material is suitable for securing the spacer and, consequently, the protective device to the cell. By providing spacers rings in various sizes for variously sized cells, the protection device is standardized. Examples of protection devices, sometimes referred to as snap-cap devices, for an electrical component connected to an electrochemical cell are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,205,034, 6,317,335 6,426,867, and 6,437,239, all to Zayatz, and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,617,953 and 6,618,273, both to Zayatz et al., the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention provides a relatively inexpensive family of spacers of various sizes for securing a standardized terminating electrical protection device (such as one of the xe2x80x9csnap-capxe2x80x9d type) to an electrical energy power source (i.e., a lithium electrochemical cell). The terminating protection device is mounted on the cell header and contains a circuit board provided with electrical components, such as diodes and fuses. The function of the circuit board is generally to protect the cell from being overcharged or too rapidly discharged, and the like.
Conventional practice is to provide the terminating protection device sized for a particular sized cell. However, this means that separate devices must be manufactured and stocked for each cell size. The present spacers eliminate this stocking problem. The spacers are sized to take up the space between the edge of the cell and the edge of the terminating protection device. That way, only variously sized spacers need to be stocked. The spacers are relatively simple to manufacture and inexpensive to stock. For example, the same terminating protection device sized for a xe2x80x9cCxe2x80x9d sized cell can be used on a xe2x80x9cDxe2x80x9d sized cell, and larger, by providing a spacer taking up the space between the edge of the larger cell and the terminating protection device.
These and other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become increasingly more apparent to those skilled in the art by reference to the following description.